


When the tide goes out

by glitterymeat



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Splatoon 2, References to Depression, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25964503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterymeat/pseuds/glitterymeat
Summary: Callie finds herself getting into a spiral of thoughts after getting a text from her cousin.
Relationships: Callie & Marie (Splatoon)
Kudos: 19





	When the tide goes out

**Author's Note:**

> I got a lot of help to write this from my pal Pasta!!! (@pastapici on Twitter) he is good. :]  
> also "Cal" is just a nickname for Callie in case that wasn't clear!

**“hey cal i'm not gonna be able to hang out with you today, sorry  
some stuff came up and I have to do some more reshoots  
we can still meet some other time, okay?”**

Callie stared at those messages for a long while, lost in her own thoughts, surrounded by empty and half started water bottles. There were piles of clothes all over the place and stashes of papers littered the floor. The room felt humid and a warmness washed over her, but not the welcoming kind of warmth. it felt heavy, almost suffocating.

But none of that mattered to her in that moment. She was too focused on her screen lightly brimming in the dark. 

She was looking forward to this. She wanted to see Marie again. They hadn’t seen each other in months ever since their solo careers started and Callie hated it.  
She despised having all those eyes on her. Having not a single soul at her side through all of this left her completely and utterly exhausted. She hated being the center of attention despite her bubbly personality, she suffered with bad anxiety throughout her life and the only reason she was even able to enter the contest that catapulted their careers was because of Marie. 

Her cousin gave her the courage to enter the competition and even agreed to sing on stage with her if she participated in the contest. But now it was different. Now there wasn’t someone at her side at every moment. Life wasn’t some dumb singing contest and she couldn’t just cry and run from everything like she did as a kid. Everything was different and even before the squid sisters disbanded she felt this constant dread of knowing that this day would come eventually. 

She finally snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of the metallic rustling from the zapfish passing by her roof, soaring through the sky and catching her off guard. She got distracted for a second and suddenly heard her phone ring.  
It was from Marie.

**"hey are you okay? you kind of did Not respond there and i got a tad bit worried, im sorry im not going to be able to hang out you today but"**

She completely forgot to answer her cousin’s text messages. She stared at her phone as Marie kept writing more messages and her breathing got heavier every moment that passed by under the sheets of her cluttered bed.

 **"I'm sorry cal, I really am. i know we haven't really kept in touch lately and i wish it wasn't that way either"**  
Marie kept apologizing for something that wasn't even her fault. Callie is horrible at keeping in touch, she doesn't really even know how to reach out for others for help. Marie was there for her a good chunk of her life and she never really felt the need to vent to anyone else, or at least that's what she always thought.

**" _look_ , i know you haven't been doing so good lately, i don't need you to tell me for me to notice that  
If you want to talk about anything with me Callie please, please let me know okay?  
i have always been here for you, i care about you"**

The tears rolling down her cheek reflected the gentle light of the screen. She almost forgot that even with everything that was going on with both of their lives, her cousin was still there for her, and wanted to help her no matter what.  
After staring at the message for a bit more, she finally sent a sticker of a sea slug with a heart and promptly turned off her phone and threw it on her bed.

She decided to go outside and get some fresh air after staring at her ceiling while mindlessly thinking about life again. She headed out to her balcony and sat on the very edge of the metal fence. She felt the hard cold metal pressed against her skin and the cold air of late autumn on her face. 

Despite that, the afternoon sun hit her entire body and made her feel warm, a cozy and comfortable kind of warm. Even with the chilly air around her, she felt warmer than she felt in her own room. She finally felt like she was free from her own thoughts, even if just for a little. There was nothing but the vast almost seemingly empathetic sky above her.

That second felt like the most peace she had felt in a longtime.

Almost as fast as it came by, it ended as soon as she started to pay attention below her. Between all the cephalopods and cars, her mind started racing with all the intrusive thoughts that had been tormenting her for a while again. All those expectations and people who had their eyes on her, it almost felt like she was below all of them. 

She hated this. 

Her life before and even just a bit after they became famous was so much better. She could enjoy life at her own pace without being tormented by the deadlines and fanfare that surrounded her. She had never been more lonely in her entire life even if she had millions of people aware of her existence now. 

At least when they were both together, everything felt like it always had been since they were kids, minus the constant attention they were getting. It felt like it had always been, until the last few Splatfests came around and the manager decided to start making them act up against each other and she finally started to feel everything crumble down. Not like it really ever affected their personal relationships but their careers started drifting away from each other from that point forward.

She spent the rest of the afternoon sitting down, reflecting on her life some more while time flew by. She had work to do for tomorrow but she didn’t even care about that anymore. She didn’t even have the motivation to stand up and do anything else. There wasn’t a single thing to look forward to in the future and even something as small as a little reunion with her cousin was enough to carry her through the week.

She wanted to disappear. She desperately wanted everything to change again. In the past she thought everything was going to get better, that things were going to change and eventually she would be happy again. But the more she keeps going the more she is starting to feel like she’s on a dead end. 

“...Cal?”

Callie quickly turned her head towards the now open glass door, where Marie stood.

“Marie?? How did you even-”

“You left the front door lock open like you always do, dummy.”

“Oh,” Callie said. “I will be more careful next time, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for that. Why are you even here? You shouldn’t be sitting that close to the edge of the balcony."

“Hey, well, I- uh.... I could be asking you the same thing you know, right? I thought you had some reshoots to do for today.”

“I dropped out of them. I sent you like at least 10 messages and you didn’t see any of them.”

“Oh.” 

Callie turned her head away and back down to the city. “Sorry.” She whispered.

“Stop that. We’ve talked about this in the past, Cal, you know you don’t have to apologize for everything.” 

“I know,” Callie said. “Did you come all the way down here just to scold me then?”

“No Cal I-” Marie stuttered a bit. “I'm sorry. I’ve been really worried about you lately, we haven’t really properly talked in a while, y’know?” 

“I do,” Callie begrudgingly said. “It’s not your fault you know, i know we've both been really busy with our careers.”

“It's not yours either, you know that right?”

Callie stayed silent for a bit, she wasn’t sure what to say or what to do. She had spent weeks thinking about everything that was happening to her and she couldn’t even think of a single thing to say to Marie.

“I guess so.”

“Callie, I just, I’ve noticed you haven’t been messaging me as much and I saw the one blog post you wrote and I just,” Marie took a slight pause to think. “You know you can tell me about your problems right?

“And you know you didn't have to cancel those reshoots for me, right?”

“Cal, I don't care about those reshoots. I care about you," Marie said. "I need you to tell me what is going on, I can tell you have not been okay lately.”

“Lately? I've felt like this for such a long time, and it's been so long I don't even remember when it started.”

“Callie…”

“Marie, I don't even know what to do anymore. I haven’t known what to do for a while now," Callie said, raising her voice slightly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not happy with my life. I hate it. Every day feels so empty and meaningless. I just wish this would end already. I'm so tired of everything."

Callie didn't even notice she was crying until a tear fell onto her lap. She didn't even think about what she said. It almost felt like her body was screaming for help.

“I can’t even stand on my own feet. How am I gonna continue on?”

"Callie, I’m not sure what is going on with you or how to help you," Marie said shakily. "But whatever deep-rooted issue you may have, I'm gonna try my hardest to help you solve it, okay?" 

Her vision felt foggy. Her eyes couldn’t concentrate in one specific place and the warm feeling she had earlier went away. She finally started feeling the cold air on her body again.  
"You are not going to fight this alone, I promise you that. We are still a team even after all this time," Marie said. "I know this is going to be a long process and there's some stuff you just cannot control but-"

Marie stepped down and hugged her back really tightly. She felt warm again, but not the kind of warm she had felt any of the other times before. It was the kind she missed. This felt nostalgic, warm and…. filled with love. 

“I'll be there for you, okay? On every single step up, I will be at your side.”

Callie let her weight on her cousin and just stayed there for some time. She couldn’t tell if it was for minutes or seconds, but it felt like forever. 

“Thank you Marie.” Callie said under her breath.

Even if the sun was set by then, in that moment, she felt like they out shined the dark night of the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank u for reading!! i wanted to write something for Callie bc i noticed there wasn't a lot of fics about her and more specifically with the implied anxiety she has from both the sunken scrolls and the squid sister stories they released before splat2 released. I feel like a lot of people tend to turn her into a one note character or discard her really quickly bc of her personality. But a lot of that is also me just reading into stuff too much lmao.  
> Also this is my first piece I've finished on a rlly long time so it was a good writing exercise omg


End file.
